Prosthetic appliances are commonly used by special effects professionals in the world of stage and screen makeup to simulate highly realistic looking deformities, injuries, unnatural features and modifications to the general structural appearance of a subject's face or body. There is a preference among many professional makeup artists to transfer certain prosthetic appliances to a subject without the need for the artist to make direct contact with the appliance at any point from its creation to its application. This is particularly important when dealing with appliances made substantially of tacky substances, such as, for example, water-based pressure-sensitive adhesives.
The Applicant previously developed prosthetic transfer solutions which remain some of the most widely-used by professional makeup artists today. In a typical such process, a prosthetic is created with an associated release film several days or weeks in advance of its application. When the time comes to apply the prosthetic to a subject, the artist applies adhesive to the front of the appliance using a sponge or brush, places a separate piece of water-slide transfer paper or water-slide fabric to the front of the appliance with the water slide coat in contact with the adhesive, the release film is removed from the back side of the appliance, the appliance is placed on the skin of the subject, the transfer paper is removed with the application of water, and the artist must manually apply a powder and/or liquid sealer to eliminate the tackiness of the prosthetic and to protect it. However, the multiple steps, materials and chemicals required in the prior known processes make creating and transferring professional-quality prosthetics too expensive, impractical, and complicated for the average consumer.
What is needed is a convenient, compact, inexpensive and easy-to-use kit for applying a prosthetic appliance to the skin of a wearer while achieving professional-quality results. Moreover, such a kit should enable the average consumer to achieve these professional results while eliminating one or more steps conventionally required of professional makeup artists. Also needed are methods for efficiently making and using such kits, while minimizing cost and complexity and optimizing the results.